Banana Fibre Extraction By Mycogenic Pectinase Enzyme(S)- An Eco-Friendly Approach

Banana besides its nutritive value the biomass can be used as resources for natural fibre. North east India and Assam in particular has a vast potential of extraction and value addition of natural fibre, especially from banana. Banana farming generates huge quantities of biomass most of which goes as waste due to non‐availability of suitable technology for its commercial utilization. Banana fibre can be extracted by different methods viz. chemical, mechanical and biological by which heavily coated, non‐cellulosic gummy material from the cellulosic part of plant fibers get removed and render them clean and spinnable. Among these eco‐friendly biological methods are preferable as chemical methods causes environmental pollution and mechanical method fails to remove the gummy material sufficiently from the fibre bundle surface besides high energy input. In contrast, the enzymatic degumming serves as a good alternative to reduce pollution and cause less fibre damage. Pectinolytic enzymes have been applied to the degumming of other natural fibers of textile importance viz. jute, sunn hemp, flax, ramie and coconut fibres. Pectinases are a group of enzymes produced by a large number of microorganisms including filamentous fungi which contribute to the breakdown of pectic materials. In the present study 62 different fungal strains were isolated from banana pseudo stem and soil samples. Out of only 13 strains were found as positive for pectinase production. Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus fumigatus strains showed higher pectinolytic activity on pectin plate assay on dried banana pseudostem as substrate for polygalacturonase(pectinase) production under solid state fermentation. The study also highlighted the immense potentiality of A. niger in comparison to Aspergillus fumigates as the good source of pectinase (5.362IU/g) producing fungi with effective degumming and extraction of banana fibre(tenacity: 24.5 cN/tex).